It really has been a lifesaver and made our summer days flow along and give
us purpose, keep the house in order, and give the kids a chance to earn some money.
I still have the belief that we help around the house because we are part of a family
and family members help one another and we're all responsible for our home.
However, I think that money management is an important life skill,
so getting paid for work, and managing that money is one way to teach that.

Another thing that we struggle with during summer is screen time.
Isabella would seriously watch Netflix all day long if she could and JT would
be glued to Minecraft or the XBox if I allowed it.
Since I didn't want zombie children by the end of the summer, even though
technology zombie children are quiet and I get a lot of things done,
it's just not good for them.

So, to avoid zombie children, I create Screen Time tickets. Each ticket is worth 30 minutes
and they get 3 tickets per day, for a total of 18 tickets for a week.
We use our tickets Monday through Saturday. On Sunday we don't do our job charts,
so its a little more free and go with the flow that day due to church and naps.
They keep their Screen Time tickets in envelopes we made together.

I hand the tickets out on Monday morning and each Monday they get punches
on their money punch cards for any tickets that they didn't use during the previous week.
They can use a maximum of three cards per day, for a total of an hour and half of screen time.
Once all of their jobs are done for the day, then they have the option to use a ticket.
They can also lose tickets for poor behavior. It wasn't an issue last summer,
but this summer I've had to take away a few cards.
You better believe their behavior changes really quickly, because Screen Time tickets
are a precious commodity.

So, now you have a picture of how our whole summer home management system works.
I've been really happy with how it works for our family. I tweak it a little bit during
the school year to work around the school day, homework, lessons and practice.
If you'd like them, you can print your screen time tickets here.